my name is Samtak and i recently started experimenting with some supplements after about 4-6 months of working out. as of right now i have a protein shake once a day with gainers in the protein powder and am trying to figure out how to use beta alanine and creatine in combination with BCAA. Can anyone help me figure out how to set out a good plan for better effects from these supplements? my current weight is 60 kg and i am 16

Protein, you may have heard, is what your muscles are made of. Well, not quite. The amino acids that make up protein are the building blocks of muscle, and your body needs—not wants, needs—these substances during and after training for repair and recovery. It breaks down the protein into the respective aminos, uses them for their various functions, and then you convert what doesn't get used. I break down a lot of tissue in my daily workouts, so balancing it out with adequate amounts of protein throughout the day is important.

The materials and information provided in this presentation, document and/or any other communication (“Communication”) from Onnit Labs, Inc. or any related entity or person (collectively “Onnit”) are strictly for informational purposes only and are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a health problem or as a substitute for consulting a qualified medical professional. Some of the concepts presented herein may be theoretical.

So much that they are not truly fasting during sleep anymore. People consume more energy than their body requires…don’t you think this will effect sleep? Sleep cycles? Sleep metabolism? Yes, it will. So people fast during the day and cause chaos for the body, mind, and soul. Why? Because you shouldn’t be fasting during the day, you should be organized with your calories and allow fasting to happen “naturally”.

Although muscle stimulation occurs in the gym (or home gym) when lifting weights, muscle growth occurs afterward during rest periods. Without adequate rest and sleep (6 to 8 hours), muscles do not have an opportunity to recover and grow.[citation needed] Additionally, many athletes find that a daytime nap further increases their body's ability to recover from training and build muscles. Some bodybuilders add a massage at the end of each workout to their routine as a method of recovering.[50] Prison food isn’t as bad as people think. Prisoners often get three meals a day. Meals need to meet a certain amount of calories. You don’t need that much protein to build muscle, but prisoners can buy protein powder (and also extra food like oatmeal). Prisoners aren’t underfed in most western countries. The diet may not be optimal, but it’s sufficient to build muscle. These guys are different than traditional deadlifts in that your legs are more or less fixed throughout the lift. Your knees are slightly bent, but this is mostly a “pulling” exercise initiated by the hamstrings and glutes. It likely is more focused on your hamstrings but they need to be strong as well to make you a stronger and more shapely human.
But muscle can’t turn into fat, just like mud can’t turn into gold. If you quit lifting, your muscles mass will decrease over time because there’s no training to stimulate your body to keep it. And your body-fat level will increase if you don’t start eating less (since you burn less). The obvious solution when you stop lifting is to also stop eating so much. Rest your hip. Sore hip flexor muscles can benefit from rest. Avoid the activities that caused your pain. Ice your affected hip for 20 minutes at a time, several times a day. Keep the leg of your affected hip elevated as much as possible 48 hours from the first onset of pain. You can also take over-the-counter pain medications to help control pain.
my name is Samtak and i recently started experimenting with some supplements after about 4-6 months of working out. as of right now i have a protein shake once a day with gainers in the protein powder and am trying to figure out how to use beta alanine and creatine in combination with BCAA. Can anyone help me figure out how to set out a good plan for better effects from these supplements? my current weight is 60 kg and i am 16 Working on gluteal muscle strength (buttock muscles) can be beneficial to reduce hip flexor tightness. Working the glute muscles pulls the hip into extension (the opposite of flexion which is what the hip flexor does) and improves muscle balance at the hip. Increasing the strength of your gluteal muscles can help calm the hip flexor down and reduce the feeling of “tightness”.
The first U.S. Women's National Physique Championship, promoted by Henry McGhee and held in Canton, Ohio in 1978, is generally regarded as the first true female bodybuilding contest—that is, the first contest where the entrants were judged solely on muscularity.[13] In 1980, the first Ms. Olympia (initially known as the "Miss" Olympia), the most prestigious contest for professionals, was held. The first winner was Rachel McLish, who had also won the NPC's USA Championship earlier in the year. The contest was a major turning point for female bodybuilding. McLish inspired many future competitors to start training and competing. In 1985, a movie called Pumping Iron II: The Women was released. It documented the preparation of several women for the 1983 Caesars Palace World Cup Championship. Competitors prominently featured in the film were Kris Alexander, Lori Bowen, Lydia Cheng, Carla Dunlap, Bev Francis, and McLish. At the time, Francis was actually a powerlifter, though she soon made a successful transition to bodybuilding, becoming one of the leading competitors of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In competitive bodybuilding, bodybuilders aspire to develop and maintain an aesthetically pleasing body and balanced physique.[16][17] In prejudging, competitors do a series of mandatory poses: the front lat spread, rear lat spread, front double biceps, back double biceps, side chest, side triceps, Most Muscular (men only), abdominals and thighs. Each competitor also performs a personal choregraphed routine to display their physique. A posedown is usually held at the end of a posing round, while judges are finishing their scoring. Bodybuilders usually spend a lot of time practising their posing in front of mirrors or under the guidance of their coach. But as I said earlier, the amount of protein you eat is a secondary concern. Quality comes first, so think "what" before "how much." For me, the "what" is lean and not fried. If you adhere to eating lean, non-fried sources of protein, you maximize your chances of gaining maximum amounts of muscle with minimal increases in body fat. My favorite sources of lean protein are standard: egg whites, chicken breast, 98 percent or leaner ground beef, turkey, fish, and quality protein supplements like Lean Pro8.
When it comes to building lean muscle, size bodybuilders are king. That’s their ultimate goal. Sure, Crossfit, powerlifting and all the other modalities will build muscle, but that’s not their focus. They want performance and any muscle they build is a side effect. Not so with bodybuilding where muscle size and shape are the priorities. Learning how to build muscle for the sake of building muscle has some benefits to the performance athlete. It allows for ais less injury prone. Its also a fact that bigger muscle contract harder regardless of technique or form, so it’s a good strategy to throw in some bodybuilder muscle building sessions here and there to give yourself stronger muscles to then train for performance. Build the muscle bigger, then train it to perform better.
According to research from the University of Stirling, for optimal protein growth, weight lifters need to eat 0.25 to 0.30 grams of protein per kilogram body weight per meal. For a 175-pound person, that works out to 20 to 24 grams of protein at every meal. You’ll get that in three to four eggs, a cup of Greek yogurt, or one scoop of protein powder.
You're aiming to kick start muscle hypertrophy, the cellular process that spurs growth. Researchers have found that the best way to initiate that process is by performing two or three sets of an exercise for six to 12 repetitions, with about 30 to 60 seconds' rest between sets. You're damaging the muscles with the work — then the protein you've been consuming will help build them back up even bigger.
Other muscles that can be recruited to assist with hip flexion include the tensor fascia latae (TFL), the pectineus, the adductors, the gracilis, and the anterior aspects of the gluteus medius and the gluteus minimus. The contribution of these secondary hip flexors largely depends on the position of the hip at the time at which movement is initiated.
You see, there is only so much muscle that the human body is capable of building in a given period of time. So, if you supply your body with MORE calories than it’s actually capable of putting towards the process of building new muscle… it’s not going to magically lead to additional muscle being built. It’s just going to lead to additional fat being gained.

The two workouts listed above are completely free and highly recommended. If, however, you’re looking for additional workouts, my book – Superior Muscle Growth – contains ALL of the muscle building routines that I’ve personally used and designed for others (11 different workouts, 40+ different versions). Feel free to check it out to learn more about what’s included.

Often people try to correct a forward tilt of the pelvis by gripping with the abdominal muscles. But besides limiting your breathing and being counterproductive in backbends, gripping the abdominals won't control the anterior pelvic tilt if you have tight hip flexors—not even in simple standing postures. That's why it's so important to make hip flexor stretches part of your daily practice, especially after a long day of sitting. These poses will let you enjoy a new sense of space in your pelvis—and help protect you from compression and pain in your lower back.
The first two weeks of the program are all about lifting heavy with mass-building compound exercises. For everything but abs and calves, reps fall in the 6-8 range; for those accustomed to doing sets of 8-12, this means going heavier than normal. There are very few isolation exercises during this phase for chest, back, shoulders and legs because the emphasis is on moving as much weight as possible to add strength and size.
Progression – Throughout the course of your lifting career you should consistently strive for progress both mentally and physically. Initially, you may find that you’re incessantly focused on nutrition and training but as you progress in both maturity and muscular development, you should be focused on improving the balance between lifting and your life. It’s never about having an all or nothing mindset, balance must be incorporated in all aspects but this takes times to develop and occurs with progression over time.
Muscle growth is more difficult to achieve in older adults than younger adults because of biological aging, which leads to many metabolic changes detrimental to muscle growth; for instance, by diminishing growth hormone and testosterone levels. Some recent clinical studies have shown that low-dose HGH treatment for adults with HGH deficiency changes the body composition by increasing muscle mass, decreasing fat mass, increasing bone density and muscle strength, improves cardiovascular parameters, and affects the quality of life without significant side effects.[45][46][unreliable medical source?][47]
"Eating well" is tough to objectively quantify. One can eat "well" but that doesn't necessarily mean that you are eating enough to build muscle or recover adequately from workouts. Also, taking protein shakes doesn't guarantee that one will start to accrue massive slabs of lean body mass. Muscle anabolism is a fairly complex metabolic process which has a number of contributing factors at the cellular level and can't be reduced to a single supplement or dietary component.
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We don't allow self-promotional posts. Don't post about athletes outside of the bodybuilding realm. Check the rules to see if your post would belong in one of our bot-automated threads rather than as a separate post. Do not ask for advice on how to rehab an injury or how to deal with any medical condition. Don't post about supplements. If you haven't been training as a bodybuilder for at least a few years, your questions probably belong in the weekly Newbie Tuesdays thread. “Exercises such as single leg squats, regular squats, deadlifts, monster walks, side laying leg lifts, step-ups and reverse planks are some of the exercises that can strengthen the muscles," says Schulz. "You can also try a challenging lunge circuit, split squats, and deadlifts for some major toning." (And of course, if you need any further ideas, check out our roundup of the 17 best glute exercises out there.) All of the gluteals must work to perform this movement—the “deep six” external rotators keep each side of the pelvis stable in spite of the different actions in each hip, and the larger gluteals add additional support for the hips. This move forces your buttock muscles to shore up their connection from the thighs through to the lower back to keep the hips and spine stable.
Having a strong butt will get you far—literally. Our glutes are responsible for powering us through everything from long runs to tough strength workouts to a simple jaunt up a flight of stairs. Strong glutes that can take on the brunt of the work can help us avoid overcompensating with smaller muscles during lower-body exercises. Plus, beyond just helping us move, the glutes play an important role in "stabilizing our entire lumbo-pelvic-hip complex," says Cori Lefkowith, NASM-certified personal trainer and owner of Redefining Strength in Costa Mesa, California. That translates to better form, more efficient movement, and a reduced risk of straining your lower back and hips.
The winner of the annual IFBB Mr. Olympia contest is generally recognized as the world's top male professional bodybuilder. The title is currently held by Shawn Rhoden; it was previously held by Phil Heath, who won every year from 2011 to 2017. The winner of the Women's Physique portion of the competition is widely regarded as the world's top female professional bodybuilder. The title is currently held by Juliana Malacarne, who has won every year since 2014. Since 1950, the NABBA Universe Championships have been considered the top amateur bodybuilding contests, with notable winners such as Reg Park, Lee Priest, Steve Reeves, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Winners generally go on to become professional athletes. Bench Press. The bench press is about as American as apple pie, fireworks, or bald eagles. If you’re in a gym on a Monday, then you can pretty guarantee at least 85% of the males in the building will be benching. With good reason though, variations such as the flat bench barbell or dumbbell press and the incline bench barbell or dumbbell press are very effective mass builders for the chest, shoulders, and triceps.

How can the muscle progress just because you held a weight for awhile when you could of held a heavier weight for less time? It won’t. It won’t grow because it’s not receiving new tension. Extending the rep by going slower is great, yes, but this slow must be the actual bar speed and not just slow because you can make it slow. You create actual bar speed by making light weight feel heavy. So lift light weight so that the fibers have to switch when it starts to feel heavy. This will increase your strength compared to just lifting heavier right away or all the time. This will help create an actual tempo with actual weights. Remember my example above about how the overall weight after making light weights feel heavy? This is because your muscles have sensed a level of tension that altered its force production so now you have to lift less, yet work harder. Read that again :) this is growth. This is how muscles sense it needs to grow. If you keep the same weight and never increase the weight, then you keep the same tension. This same tension is not enough to create new tension. Remember when I talked about failure? Well, the point where the fatigue of failure comes into play alters as well. It takes less time. That’s the point. Not much time is needed for growth, just break down the muscle as much as it can to a healthy level and do it again. Keep doing it and keep trying to increase the weight.

The bulking and cutting strategy is effective because there is a well-established link between muscle hypertrophy and being in a state of positive energy balance.[19] A sustained period of caloric surplus will allow the athlete to gain more fat-free mass than they could otherwise gain under eucaloric conditions. Some gain in fat mass is expected, which athletes seek to oxidize in a cutting period while maintaining as much lean mass as possible.
Your glutes serve as the main mover and power output to most of your major and accessory lifts—squat, deadlift, kettbell swings, box jumps—so the more you develop and stimulate your gluteal muscles, the more you’re able to maximize control, strength, and stability. (It doesn’t hurt that women love watching you do leg and glute work in the gym, either.)
And not to drop a truth bomb but, most of us need to be doing glute exercises — and aren’t. “Lack of use is the biggest reason so many people tend to have weak glutes,” says Cassandra York, PhD, MS, RD, CSCS, best-selling fitness author and a professor at Central Connecticut State University. “We don’t walk as much as we used to. We don’t take the stairs. And when we do move, we tend to be quad dominant,” says York. There are several ways to enhance the quality of a workout, and some changes can even be made during each rep. “Constant tension should be applied to the last five reps of every working set, meaning, do the first 5-6 reps normal tempo, and the last few reps should be held for at least two seconds at the peak of the contraction,” says Heath. “This allows your muscles to have more time under tension and you work different muscle fibers.” Hold the weight at the top for a maximum pump.
The motor proteins actin and myosin generate the forces exerted by contracting muscles. Current recommendations suggest that bodybuilders should consume 25–30% of protein per total calorie intake to further their goal of maintaining and improving their body composition.[30] This is a widely debated topic, with many arguing that 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day is ideal, some suggesting that less is sufficient, while others recommending 1.5, 2, or more.[31] It is believed that protein needs to be consumed frequently throughout the day, especially during/after a workout, and before sleep.[32] There is also some debate concerning the best type of protein to take. Chicken, turkey, beef, pork, fish, eggs and dairy foods are high in protein, as are some nuts, seeds, beans, and lentils. Casein or whey are often used to supplement the diet with additional protein. Whey protein is the type of protein contained in many popular brands of protein supplements and is preferred by many bodybuilders because of its high Biological Value (BV) and quick absorption rates. Whey protein also has a bigger effect than casein on insulin levels, triggering about double the amount of insulin release.[33] That effect is somewhat overcome by combining casein and whey. Bodybuilders are usually thought to require protein with a higher BV than that of soy, which is additionally avoided due to its claimed estrogenic properties. Still, some nutrition experts believe that soy, flax seeds and many other plants that contain the weak estrogen-like compounds or phytoestrogens, can be used beneficially, as phytoestrogens compete with estrogens for receptor sites in the male body and can block its actions. This can also include some inhibition of pituitary functions while stimulating the P450 system (the system that eliminates hormones, drugs and metabolic waste product from the body) in the liver to more actively process and excrete excess estrogen.[34][35] Cortisol decreases amino acid uptake by muscle, and inhibits protein synthesis.[36]
Bodybuilding developed in the late 19th century, promoted in England by German Eugen Sandow, now considered as the "Father of Bodybuilding". He allowed audiences to enjoy viewing his physique in "muscle display performances". Although audiences were thrilled to see a well-developed physique, the men simply displayed their bodies as part of strength demonstrations or wrestling matches. Sandow had a stage show built around these displays through his manager, Florenz Ziegfeld. The Oscar-winning 1936 musical film The Great Ziegfeld depicts the beginning of modern bodybuilding, when Sandow began to display his body for carnivals.

(3) Protein - this is a very important nutrient (macro) as the body doesn’t really store protein. It recycles protein as we are mainly protein, so it makes sense for protein metabolism/catabolism to be equally constant…which means we should make sure to be consuming protein via food or supplements (food over supplements) to keep up with this process. If we aren’t consuming protein, then the body will be forced to mostly use it own protein (muscle) for energy. Sure, amino acids help via BCAA vs EAA, but whole protein (complete) combines every amino acid. Certain foods are complete, while some are lightly complete. So strive to eat foods that collectively create whole protein (complete). I also suggest no less then 100g of protein just to play things safe and then manipulate (adjust amount) upon determination.

Teresa Giudice, who's best known as a personality on Bravo's Real Housewives of New Jersey, competed in her first bodybuilding contest Saturday. — Carly Mallenbaum, USA TODAY, "'Real Housewives' star Teresa Giudice shows off new muscles at bodybuilding competition," 10 June 2018 His first wife, Sitora Yusufiy, suggested in an interview with Time magazine, with little evidence other than his penchant for bodybuilding and mirror-gazing, that Omar Mateen could have been gay. — Tim Fitzsimons /, NBC News, "What really happened that night at Pulse," 12 June 2018 The physique competition will be held at McGlohon Theater and includes the following categories: bodybuilding, fitness, men’s physique, figure, bikini, classic physique and women’s physique. — Courtney Devores, charlotteobserver, "Your 5-minute guide to the best things to do in Charlotte | June 22-28," 21 June 2018 Fans who have been following Giudice closely on social media have watched the reality star workout in videos, but Giudice hasn't posted publicly about her first bodybuilding competition. — Carly Mallenbaum, USA TODAY, "'Real Housewives' star Teresa Giudice shows off new muscles at bodybuilding competition," 10 June 2018 Carolyn Marvin, who served as the graduate adviser for both Prosper and Nirenberg, pointed to his thesis, an autoethnography about the subculture of bodybuilding. — Josh Baugh, San Antonio Express-News, "Nirenberg knew immediately that he’d eventually marry Erika Prosper," 17 Mar. 2018 The bodybuilding competition is one of two hosted produced each year in Louisville by Kentucky Muscle promoter Brent L. Jones. — Matt Stone, The Courier-Journal, "Bodybuilders, fitness athletes go flex at 2018 KDF Derby Championships," 29 Apr. 2018 Father John Brown is basically a bodybuilding legend, having won two Mr. Universe titles and three Mr. World crowns. — Jr Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Facts you may have missed about each Packers draft choice in 2018," 4 May 2018 The affable Louisville man helped bring back the bodybuilding show culture in 2011 with 90 competitors. — Matt Stone, The Courier-Journal, "Bodybuilders, fitness athletes go flex at 2018 KDF Derby Championships," 29 Apr. 2018 Let’s say your concentric is 30lbs and you don’t take my advice and keep the 30lbs for your eccentric. Let’s say, I assume you can do 50lbs on the eccentric, but choose to keep it at 30lbs. If you actually started off making light weight feel heavy, that 30lbs would of been around 10–20lbs and my assumption would of been 30lbs. My first assumption was a heavier weight. Your concentric was a heavier weight. What changed? Why did the overall weight become lighter after making light weight feel heavy?
How to do it: Lie on your back with both feet planted firmly against the flat base of a Bosu ball, knees bent. Stabilize your body. If you’re feeling a bit wobbly, your arms can hover on either side of you in case you fall in one direction. If you feel balanced, raise your arms straight up above your chest, hands clasped to challenge and work your stability. Drive your hips toward the ceiling, then lower and repeat.